One Night Only: Previews for Weekend of July 8th

Mike Trout!

This edition of One Night Only contains:

1. Six heart-stopping game previews.

2. Pitcher and Team NERD scores for every one of this weekend’s games.

3. A brief note: please excuse the tardiness of the present edition of One Night Only. Sometimes a guy is at SABR 41 in Long Beach, CA. Sometimes that same guy’s, like, “Wait? What time is it?”

Friday, July 8th
Cincinnati (9) at Milwaukee (10) | 20:10
• Here’s what one guy says: “Zack Greinke (10) is so good. Look at his xFIP and crap.”
• Here’s what another guy says: “xFIP, xSCHMIP. He’s too hittable.”
• What Greinke’s last start (6.0 IP, 9 K, 2 BB, 5 RA) didn’t do: convince that second guy otherwise.
• Here’s what Carson Cistulli thinks: nothing really matters.
• On second thought, that’s what Freddie Mercury and/or John Paul-Sartre think.

Seattle (2) at Los Angeles Americans (6) | 22:05
• Tonight, in case you haven’t heard, marks Mike Trout’s major-effing-league debut.
• Question: Is “major-effing-league” an example of Tmesis?
• Answer: Mike Effing Trout!

Saturday, July 9th
Toronto (7) at Cleveland (10) | 19:05 ET
• I just, like 40 seconds ago, asked Dave Cameron, “Did you know Brandon Morrow is having a pretty good season?”
• “Well, he has a low FIP,” Cameron said, “but he’s giving up a lot of runs.”
• Technically true, Dave Cameron.
• Also true: Denial is a river in Egypt.
• Snap?

Arizona (10) at St. Louis (6) | 19:15 ET
• The Diamondbacks are (a) pretty young, (b) pretty cheap, and (c) pretty good.
• Also, they have a 42% chance of making the playoffs, per Cool Standings.
• S’that high, you think?

Sunday, July 10th
Tampa Bay (7) at New York Americans (6) | 13:05 ET
• This game features James Shields (9) and CC Sabathia (9).
• It also features a Battle for AL East Supremacy!!!
• Blergity. Blergity. Blergity.

Seattle (2) at Los Angeles Americans (6) | 15:35 ET
• This is kinda like that other Mariner-Angel game on Friday.
• Except for this one thing: Felix Hernandez (9) faces Dan Haren (8).
• But also this other thing: you only get Mike Trout’s third game.

Also Playing
These games are very likely playing at some kind of sporty channel near you.

Friday:

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP	Home		Time
Brandon Beachy	ATL	10	5	8	2	10	PHI	Roy Halladay	19:05
Rodrigo Lopez*	CHN	5	0	4	6	3	PIT	James McDonald	19:05
Jason Hammel	COL	2	6	4	5	4	WAS	Jason Marquis	19:05
Jeremy Hellickson	TB	3	7	4	6	3	NYA	Freddy Garcia	19:05
Jo-Jo Reyes	TOR	3	7	4	10	2	CLE	Mitch Talbot	19:05
Zach Britton	BAL	5	2	5	6	6	BOS	Josh Beckett	19:10
Jordan Lyles	HOU	6	4	4	2	2	FL	Javier Vazquez	19:10
Gio Gonzalez	OAK	6	0	5	10	5	TEX	C.J. Wilson	20:05
Mike Leake	CIN	6	9	8	10	10	MIL	Zack Greinke	20:10
Rick Porcello	DET	5	4	4	10	2	KC	Kyle Davies	20:10
Nick Blackburn	MIN	3	0	3	2	5	CHA	Gavin Floyd	20:10
Ian Kennedy	AZ	6	10	6	6	4	STL	Kyle Lohse	20:15
Blake Beavan*	SEA	5	2	5	6	6	LAA	Ervin Santana	22:05
Mat Latos	SD	7	4	6	2	6	LAN	Chad Billingsley	22:10
R.A. Dickey	NYN	8	5	6	4	5	SF	Ryan Vogelsong	22:15

Saturday:

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP	Home		Time
David Price	TB	10	7	7	6	5	NYA	A.J. Burnett	13:05
Tommy Hanson	ATL	8	5	7	2	9	PHI	Cliff Lee	16:10
Brian Duensing	MIN	4	0	3	2	2	CHA	Mark Buehrle	16:10
Aaron Harang	SD	4	4	6	2	9	LAN	Rubby De La Rosa	16:10
Undecided	CHN	5	0	4	6	3	PIT	Kevin Correia	19:05
Ubaldo Jimenez	COL	6	6	5	5	4	WAS	Jason Marquis	19:05
Brandon Morrow	TOR	10	7	8	10	6	CLE	Josh Tomlin	19:05
Alfredo Simon*	BAL	5	2	4	6	2	BOS	John Lackey	19:10
Johnny Cueto	CIN	6	9	7	10	7	MIL	Shaun Marcum	19:10
Charlie Furbush*	DET	5	4	5	10	4	KC	Luke Hochevar	19:10
Brett Myers	HOU	4	4	5	2	7	FL	Ricky Nolasco	19:10
Daniel Hudson	AZ	8	10	8	6	7	STL	Chris Carpenter	19:15
Brandon McCarthy	OAK	6	0	5	10	4	TEX	Colby Lewis	20:05
Chris Capuano	NYN	6	5	7	4	9	SF	Tim Lincecum	21:05
Michael Pineda	SEA	10	2	6	6	2	LAA	Joel Pineiro	21:05

Sunday:

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP	Home		Time
James Shields	TB	9	7	8	6	9	NYA	CC Sabathia	13:05
Brett Cecil	TOR	5	7	7	10	7	CLE	Carlos Carrasco	13:05
Wandy Rodriguez	HOU	5	4	5	2	6	FL	Chris Volstad	13:10
Derek Lowe	ATL	6	5	7	2	10	PHI	Cole Hamels	13:35
Mitch Atkins*	BAL	5	2	7	6	10	BOS	Kyle Weiland*	13:35
Ramon Ortiz*	CHN	5	0	3	6	2	PIT	Paul Maholm	13:35
Jhoulys Chacin	COL	6	6	6	5	7	WAS	Jordan Zimmermann	13:35
Edinson Volquez	CIN	7	9	6	10	3	MIL	Randy Wolf	14:10
Justin Verlander	DET	10	4	7	10	4	KC	Jeff Francis	14:10
Anthony Swarzak*	MIN	5	0	5	2	8	CHA	Jake Peavy	14:10
Zach Duke	AZ	5	10	7	6	9	STL	Jaime Garcia	14:15
Trevor Cahill	OAK	5	0	5	10	4	TEX	Matt Harrison	15:05
Felix Hernandez	SEA	9	2	7	6	8	LAA	Dan Haren	15:35
Tim Stauffer	SD	6	4	5	2	5	LAN	Ted Lilly	16:10
Mike Pelfrey	NYN	2	5	5	4	7	SF	Matt Cain	20:05

NERD represents an attempt to anticipate the watchability of a game for the baseballing enthusiast.
To learn more about Pitcher NERD, click here and scroll down a little.
To learn more about Team NERD, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD of 5 (or 10 for debuts)
Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire.